Going Down to Chihuahua City

A few weeks ago we had the major political elections in Chihuahua State.  As a member of the Consulate, I was invited to participate in election monitoring, which meant a quick visit down to the state capital Chihuahua City.  It was a great opportunity to go see a new city and get a better idea of what life is like away from the border.  Many of our visa applicants actually come from the city for their interviews (about a four-hour drive), so it was great to gain some perspective. 

The election monitoring was incredibly interesting, and I was glad I had the opportunity.  But perhaps most importantly, there is a Mennonite community about halfway between Chihuahua City and Juarez that is famous for their cheese.  So I may not have taken a lot of photos of my visit, but at least I got some good cheese as a souvenir. 

The Food of Mexico City!

As you all know, I like to eat.  I like to eat pretty much everything (except some seafood, but I'm working on that).  And I especially like to eat weird stuff that you would find being sold by street vendors in foreign lands (next time you're in Romania, try a pleskavita).  Which is why Sarah, in perhaps the greatest gift a woman could give to her husband, booked us for a tour of the street food of downtown Mexico City.  Basically we spent half a day walking around, taking in the sites, learning about food, and eating stuff.  Not a bad way to spend a morning in Mexico City.  So without further ado, here's a review of what's available on the streets of the DF. 

We started off the morning with a fresh tamale, and a glass of atole, which is some sort of corn/chocolate concoction that they drink in the morning.  Pretty tasty.

We had the basic corn tamale, which was loaded up with peppers (a bit spicy for breakfast).
 

Look at the size of this pork rind!  They literally skin the entire pig and deep fry it in one giant chicharron.  Don't worry, we didn't eat the whole thing.

We also stopped by a tortilleria in the morning, to watch some of the thousands of tortillas made every day in the city. 

The price of tortillas is regulated by the government since it's such a staple of the Mexican diet.  I think it's currently set around 12 pesos per kilogram (about $1 USD).

Next stop: quesadillas!  This one was filled with cheese, pork, and prickly pear cactus, which is an incredibly popular topping in central Mexico.

Another surprising twist of the morning: Sarah has a fruit smoothie.  Sarah is not a huge fruit fan, so the fact that she downed an entire smoothie must mean they are pretty good.

This was perhaps my favorite stop, the taco stand.  This guy has been selling tacos de canasta (literally "basket tacos") on this street corner for twenty years.  And the best part of all, you could buy a smooth Marlboro cigarette to finish off your meal. 

Our favorite taco was the cochinita pibil, which is a certain style of pork that they cook on coals buried underground all day.

We also stopped by a burrito stand, which isn't exactly authentic Mexican food (especially since they use flour tortillas, which are considered a big no-no), but it was still really good.

We were definitely starting to fill up at this point, but that did not stop us from passing by the carnitas truck, where they essentially deep fry an entire pig each day and then doll out the meat in tacos for the rest of the day.

As you can see, the tortilla is king in Mexico, and it is literally eaten in some form or another at every meal.

Finally, our last stop of the day was the fabled tacos al pastor stand.  Tacos al pastor are also incredibly popular on the border.  It basically consists of a giant spinning meat cylinder...

Fried up on the grill in a mild pepper seasoning...

With precisely three toppings: cilantro, onions, and pineapple.  What a great way to round out the day.  Viva Mexico!

Mexico City!

Hola, everybody!  Sorry it's been a few weeks since the last post.  As always, we are incredibly busy down here in Juarez, but I have some downtime tonight so I can finally put up some posts.  At the end of June, Sarah and I made a last-minute trip down to Mexico City.  We figured we should go on one more adventure just the two of us before the baby shows up and ruins our lives. 

Mexico City is a beautiful place, and completely different from life on the border.  It's green, cool, breezy, and you can just walk around pretty much anywhere you want.  The first day Sarah booked a street food tour for the both of us, so that we could taste the wide variety of Mexican cuisine (more on that in the next post).  We also picked up some things at the local craft markets to help fill our giant, starkly decorated home.

The next day (Friday), we took a tour of some of the historic sites in downtown Mexico City, including the cathedral and the Presidential Palace.  

Right next to the main square is the Templo Mayor, a massive Aztec temple that was discovered only recently.  They had some pretty impressive artifacts. 

After that, we made our way the Museo Antropologico de Mexico, perhaps the most impressive museum I have even been to.  We took the advice of many of our friends and family and paced ourselves through the museum.  I think we only saw about half of it, but the Mayan and Aztec displays are incredible.

I finally got to see the giant Aztec calendar, that I've seen on so many textbooks and Mexican advertisements.

Perhaps the most culturally important artifact in the museum, however, had to be this giant Olmec head, which I can only imagine served as the inspiration for that giant talking head on my favorite Nickelodeon game show as a kid, "Legends of the Hidden Temple."  Does anyone else remember this show anymore, or is it not really as awesome as I remember? 

So how do you top off a perfect Friday night in Mexico City?  With Lucha Libre, of course!  We managed to score tickets to the weekly professional wresting event to see some of the great figures of our time duke it out in the ring, including The Blue Jaguar, Mistico, Valiente, Mascara Dorada, and my personal favorite, Starman (he showed up in spacesuit).
 

The next day we started making our way to Teotihuacan, first stopping to visit the Basilica to La Virgen de Guadalupe, the most visited religious site in Latin America. 

Our next stop was the pyramids of Teotihuacan, which were pretty impressive.  We were also fortunate enough to go with a good friend of ours, Dane Nielsen, who happened to be working in Mexico City during our visit.

People were pretty impressed that a seven-months-pregnant woman could climb to the top of two pyramids (myself included), but Sarah's pretty awesome in general.

Overall, we had an absolutely fantastic time down in Mexico City, and I managed to eat my weight in tacos.  It was a nice little break from the border for the weekend. 

What's the Story Here?

So, this graffiti showed up a few days ago down the street from our neighborhood, and I can't help but wonder about it every time I go by.  For those who don't speak Spanish, it reads, "TM, forgive me!  I love you!"  Here's what I have deduced so far.  A teenage boy had to have written this (in your head, can you picture any other type of person doing this?).  So more than likely, TM is a teenage girl.  For simplicity sake, we'll call her Teresa Maria.  As for the person who wrote this, we'll call him Carlos.

But that's where the questions really begin.  What did Carlos do?  How long have he and Teresa Maria been together?  What could have happened between them?  Why did Carlos write on this particular wall?  Does Teresa Maria walk by here every day?  Is that her house behind the cement wall?  If so, did Teresa Maria's dad kill Carlos when he discovered what Carlos did?  Did Teresa Maria forgive Carlos?  Is there still hope for young love in a tough town like Juarez?!?

I'll let you know if I find any answers in the weeks to come.  But perhaps it's for the best if I remain in the dark.  In my mind,  I can imagine Teresa Maria and Carlos together again, walking past this wall hand in hand.  Perhaps it's better to never know...     

Food Alert: Put Avocados on Everything

Hola, everybody.  As you can guess here in the borderland, avocados are everywhere.  Not only that, they are also dirt cheap.  Every restaurant here has some form of guacamole.  If you order soup, it comes with a side of avocado.  If you ask for sauce on your taquitos, they'll drench them with some sort of avocado-sour cream concoction.  You cannot escape the avocado.

Which is why Sarah and I now eat avocados on absolutely everything; tacos, salad, as a side dish all by itself, and most recently, on hamburgers.  I know this isn't exactly ground-breaking culinary advice, but YOU SHOULD PUT AVOCADOS ON YOUR BURGER.  It is delicious, and it goes great with bacon, cheese, and BBQ sauce.  Put avocados on everything.  You won't be disappointed. 

Still Bakin'

Greetings from Ciudad Juarez!  Sorry I haven't posted anything since we have arrived.  It has been crazy ever since we arrived; getting to know the city, learning to do my job, speaking Spanish with everyone, getting things situated in our home, getting ready for the baby, and so on. 

Living in Juarez is definitely an adjustment, but we're making the most of it.  There are wonderful people, great coworkers, delicious food, and a lot of other advantages to being in this border city.  But I'm sure many of you are thinking to yourselves, "That's great, Ryan, but we don't care about you.  How's Sarah doing?"  Sarah is thriving as always, hoping to start a new job at the Consulate in a month or two.  In the meantime, she's keeping herself busy in other ways.  Plus, she just entered her third trimester like a champ!

Our little man (name to be determined) is doing well.  We will have our last ultrasound in a couple of days, and then we just wait a few more months for his arrival (still scheduled for early September).

Furthermore, Sarah is quickly establishing her reputation as the best baker in Latin America.  Despite our limited number of baking tools (most of our stuff has yet to arrive), she's already made sugar cookies, homemade Oreos, brownies, and these amazing chocolate cakes she whipped up for the Consulate Bake Sale.  Never change, Sarah.  Never stop baking treats for me to eat.

I've added a few more posts to get you up to speed on life down here in Juarez.  Please keep on reading! 

Viva Los Indios!

 

A couple weeks after our arrival in Ciudad Juarez, I had the opportunity to attend a local minor league baseball game here in Juarez.  They have a brand new stadium sponsored by Tecate beer, and the team is doing pretty well.  We got to see the Juarez Indios (Indians) take on the Cuahtemoc Manzaneros (Apple-Men).  We won 4-0, in case you're looking to pick up some new players for your Chihuahua minor league fantasy baseball team.  

 

I took advantage of the low prices to have quite the evening.  My tickets behind home plate, an Indios t-shirt, a snow cone, a sandwich, and a bottle of water came to a grand total of $18.  Not bad.

On the border you'll find plenty of places selling tortas, which are essentially just sandwiches.  Start with a delicious, soft roll, add some guacamole on both slices, then add some steak and grilled onions, and you've got yourself a torta.  Don't forget the roasted jalapeno pepper, which comes on just about everything down here.  Yes, I got violently ill two days later, but who's to say what was the cause of that.